2006-10-30

The Totally Unforseen Shocking Unpredictable Surprise Revelation - Calgary gun amnesty edition

Think of this possibly as another example of the rivalry of Alberta's two largest cities: Edmonton's mayor Decore becomes the leader of a provincial political party, Calgary's mayor Klein has to become the leader of a provincial political party. The Calgary Flames make it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, so the next season the Oilers have to make it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Edmonton cops are corrupt, so Calgary cops have to become corrupt too.

Again, what a shock. Who could have seen it? The province undertakes an ill conceived program of gun amnesty (see the Solicitor General's FAQ), accepting weapons with almost no questions asked. These are mostly weapons that are illegal to obtain, making their value higher than would be otherwise. Even if they are legal, the gun registry makes them harder to obtain and therefore higher in value. These valuable firearms are being handed en masse to police officials, where they are mostly going to be destroyed. In other words, if they disappear it won't arouse too many suspicions.

Now we have fallible officers handling valuable property which nobody is going to miss, and then its a shock -- a complete surprise -- to learn at the end of the day some officers have been stealing the guns and keeping them for themselves.

The woman claimed two uniformed officers showed up at her door a week ago -- but didn't leave with the guns, offering instead to buy them.

One officer allegedly returned several days later, while off duty, and paid $200 for the guns.

The weapons apparently never made it into the arsenal of more than 600 registered and unregistered firearms Calgary cops have seized in the amnesty for destruction.

"This is a very serious allegation," said Hornby.

"I can assure you the police service will act quickly and accordingly."

The officer is accused of having been in contact with a gun dealer in Warburg, about 80 km southwest of Edmonton, expressing interest in selling firearms.